Wire straightening device



Oct. 22, 1963 J', G, HOAD 3,107,701

WIRE STRAIGHTENING DEVICE ATTORNEY Get. 22, 1963 H. J. G. HOAD WIRE STRAIGHTENING DEVICE s Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed April 11, 1961 u. m an. v \1 m a @ww f l m" M P INvENToR HERBERT JAMES CEORCE H0140 United States Patent 3,197,701 WIRE STRAIGHTENENG DEVICE Herbert James George Head, East Grinstead, England,

assignor to The Monotype Corporation Limited, London, England Filed Apr. 11, 1961, Ser. No. 102,312 Claims priority, application Great Britain Apr. 14, 19st 2 Claims. (Cl. 140-147) off wire being bent to a position at right-angles to the centre portion, forced through the sheets or pieces of material to be stitched together, and then bent over against the surface from which they protrude. An example of a wire stitching machine of this type, which will be particularly referred to in the following description is the well-known Boston stitcher, shown in Us. Patent 970,- 461, issued September 20, 1910.

Such machines usually include a wire straightening device through which the wire passes before being fed to the cutting position, but it has been found that the wire straightening devices in current use are not always adequate to provide the degree of stnaightness necessary for efiective operation of the machines.

For example it has been proposed to employ Wire straightening devices of the kind in which the wire is led over two rollers, spaced apart in the direction of movement of the wire, and hereinafter termed primary and secondary abutment rollers, a third roller, mounted so as to engage the wire between the primary and secondary abutment rollers being movably mounted so that it can be positioned to deflect the wire to a greater or less extent towards a line joining the centres of the abutment rollers. The third roller is hereinafter termed the deflecting roller. The deflection of the wire, provided that it is applied in the appropriate direction, tends to remove any set curvature of the wire resulting, for example, from its winding on the reel from which it is fed into the machine.

It has been found that some wires, particularly hard drawn wires which have been coiled in one direction on the take-off reel of a wire drawing machine and in the opposite direction on a storage reel, may retain a set curvature in the opposite direction to that in which they were wound on the storage reel, and, assuming a fixed mounting position for the storage reel on the stitching machine, the straightening device as above described is ineffective since it deflects the wire in the direction of the set curvatime instead of in the opposite direction.

:It is an object of the present invention to provide a wire straightening device which can be set to deflect the wire in either of two opposite directions so that, with a fixed reel mounting position, set curvatures of the wire in opposite directions can be removed.

It is another object of the invention to provide a wire stitching machine incorporating an improved wire straightening device so as to render the machine more reliable and efficient.

-In the accompanying drawings, which are given by way of example only and not by way of limitation of the in- 3,1h7f7fii Patented Oct. 22, 1963 vention, the wire stitching machine shown is a Boston stitcher and only a general representation of the essential features thereof other than the wire straightening device is provided, it being assumed that the machine itself is well-known.

'In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation of the wire stitching machine showing part of the wire straightening device, the stitcher head door being in the open position;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional side elevation of the machine shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the wire straightening device; and

FIGURES 4 and 5 are sections on the lines 44 and 5-'5' of FIGURE 3, respectively.

The Boston stitcher head shown in (FIGURES l and 2 of the drawings is of the generally well-known construction in which the wire 34 from the wire straightening means hereinafter described in connection with FIGURES 3, 4 and 5, is threaded through the stitcher head so that the free end of the same extends just below the wire cutter holder 35. The wire 34 passes behind a clip 36 and between a pair of wire grips consisting of a fixed grip 3'7 and a spring loaded movable grip 38, both carried by a grip holder 39 mounted in the stitcher head. The wire '34 from the fixed and movable grips lies in a slot 40 in a wire guide 41 in which it is retained by retaining plate 412 and passes through a slot in a wire cutter holder 43 provided with cutters 44 and in which it is retained by a wire holder slide 45. The swivel 46 rotatably mounted on the door 47 of the stitcher head is provided for turning each length of wire as it is severed by the outters 44 into position to permit the same to be bent into staple form by the bender bar 48 in preparation for driving through the work piece by the driver 49 to effect stitching.

The steps of wire feeding, operation of the cutters 44 to sever the lengths of wire, operation of the swivel 46 and operations of the bender bar '48 to form the staples and driver 49 to effect the stitching are effected automatically in timed sequence and in a manner well-known to those conversant with the Boston stitcher. Briefly the motive power for effecting such operations is obtained from a driving motor not shown, which is operatively coupled through suitable gearing also not shown, to one end of a drive shaft 51 mounted in bearings in the machine frame 52. The opposite end of the drive shaft 51 carries a crank drive shown generally at 53 the crank pin 54 of which engages an upper driving bar 55 mounted so as to be reciprocable in the stitcher head. The reciprocating movements of this upper driving bar are transmitted through suitable mechanism to drive the bender bar and cutters, the rotatable movement of the swivel also resulting from this reciprooatory movement and being effected by imparting a swinging movement to spring loaded swivel operating lever 56 mounted on the interior of the door 47 of the stitcher head, the swinging movement being imparted by a cam roller 57 carried by the wire guide 41.

The wire 34 is drawn from a reel supported on the machine frame and passes through wire straightening device prior to its entry into the stitcher head. As shown in FIGURE 3 of the drawings the straighten-ing device is located on top of the frame of the stitching machine the wire 34 being drawn from a storage reel 31 supported at one side of the said machine frame.

The straightening device comprises a body adapted to be fixed in a suitable manner to the top of the frame 52 of the wire stitching machine. The body 10 is formed with two vetrical fiat faces, in planes at right angles one to another, these faces being indicated by the references 12 and 13, each of the said faces extending across the plane of the other face. 'On the upper face '12 there are mounted two pairs of abutment rollers one above the other, the upper pair constituting primary abutment rollers and the lower pair constituting secondary abutment rollers, each pair consisting of a circumferentially grooved roller 14 and a non-grooved roller :15. Between the upper and lower pairs of abutment rollers a transverse groove 16 of rectangular cross section is formed in the face 12 and a slide 17 is mounted in the said groove 16 so as to be movable horizontally across the face 12. The slide 17 carries a pair of deflecting rollers 18 both of which are circumferentially grooved.

The slide .17, as shown in FIGURE 4, is formed on its rear surface with a lug 19 extending into a recess 20 behind =the groove 16, the lug being formed with a screw threaded hole 21 extending parallel to the length of the slide; and a screw '22 which extends horizontally through the body .19 is engaged in the screw threaded hole 21 in the lug 19. The screw 22 is held against longitudinal movement, preferably by a pin 22a, inserted in a suitable hole in the body 10 and engaging in a circumferential groove 23 in the screw. Rotation of the screw, which may be effected by a knob 24 mounted on one end thereof, thus displaces the slide 17 to-and-fro along the groove 16.

Thus, both the primary and the secondary abutment rollers 1-4, 15 and the deflecting rollers 18, are duplicated, the wire passing between the rollers of each pair, and the deflecting rollers 18 are mounted on the slide :17 which constitutes a carrier member movable in a direction perpendicular to the direction of travel of the wire to permit the deflection applied to the wire to be varied and reversed.

The rollers 18 mounted on the slide 17 are spaced apart by a sufficient distance to enable a wire to be passed laterally between them, but the abutment rollers 14 and 15 are so spaced that the lands bounding the groove in the roller 14 are too close to the periphery of the roller 15 to permit a wire to be passed laterally between them. In order to facilitate the engagement of the wire with the rollers, each roller 15 is mounted on a spindle 25 movable axially in the body 10 from its normal position in which the roller 15 is in the same plane as the roller :14 to a position in which the roller 15 is forward thereof as shown in chain dot-ted lines in FIGURE 5. With the roller 1-5 in this position a wire can be readily inserted in the groove of the roller '14 and the roller 15 then moved back into its normal position, thus preventing the wire from slipping out.

As shown in FIGURE 5, the spindle 25 on which the roller 15 is mounted extends right through the body 16 and is formed in the part thereof which lies within the body with two axially spaced circumferential grooves 26 and 27. A rod 28 having a rounded end is slidably mounted in a bore 29 in the body and is urged by a spring 30, taking its abutment on a grub screw mounted in the outer end of the bore 29 against the spindle 25. The groove 25 in the spindle 25, which is of substantially V-shaped cross section, is so positioned that it is engaged by the rod 23 when the roller 15 is in the same plane as the roller 14 to retain the roller in its operative position and the groove 27, which is of increasing depth towards the end of the spindle remote from the roller 15, has its side wall nearer that end of the spindle substantially perpendicular to the axis of the spindle. Thus, if the spindle is pushed forwardly, causing the rod to ride from the groove 26 into the groove 27, the spindle tends to move 3, forwardly until the rod 28 engages the rear wall of the groove 27, further movement of the spindle being prevented.

The face 13 of the body it) carries two corresponding pairs .14 and 15 of abutment rollers and a slide d7 carry ing deflecting rollers =18, all corresponding to those on the face 12. The rollers are so arranged that the passes between the pairs of abutment rollers 14 and 15 on the face 12 are in alignment with the passes between the pairs of abutment rollers G4 and 15 on the face 13. The slide 17 on the face 13 is movable horizontally in the same manner 1 as the slide 17 on the face 12.

Wire is led into the straightening device from the storage reel 31 over a guide 32, the guide 32 being provided with retaining members 33 to retain the wire against lateral movement. Depending on the direction of the set curvature in the wire, either pair of deflecting rollers 13 may be adjusted, by movement of the slide on which they are carried along the groove .16, to exert a deflecting force on the wire in the opposite direction between the associated abutment rollers, thereby counter-acting the set curvature and bringing a wire to a straight condition. Obviously if the wire has no set curvature in the plane of one of the faces 12 and 13, the deflecting rollers on that face can be set so that the pass between them is aligned with the passes between the abutment rollers on the same face.

It will thus be apparent that, regardless of the direction and degree of the set curvature of any wire being passed through the device, it is possible to set one or other pair of deflecting rollers to counteract that curvature and thus the wire after passing through the straightening device will always be adequately straightened before being fed into the stitching machine.

I claim:

1. A wire straightening device comprising a first pair of abutment rollers adapted to engage wire from a source of supply, a second pair of abutment rollers coacting with said first pair and spaced therefrom in the direction of travel of said wire, a first set of spaced deflecting elements disposed on each side of the path of travel of said wire, means mounting said deflecting elements on a movable first support located between said pairs of abutment rollers, and means for selectively moving said first support transversely of the direction of travel of said wire to urge one or the other of said deflecting elements into engagement with said Wire whereby a predetermined lateral straightening force in either of two reverse directions is applied to said wire by the deflecting elements, a third pair of abutment rollers coacting with said first and sec-* ond pairs and spaced therefrom in the direction of travel of said wire, a fourth pair of abutment rollers coacting with said third pair and spaced therefrom in the direction of travel of said wire, said third and fourth pairs of abutment rollers disposed in a plane at right angles to the plane of said first and second pairs of abutment rollers, a second set of spaced deflecting elements disposed on each side of the path of travel of said wire, means mounting said second set of deflecting elements on a second movable support located between said third and fourth pairs of said abutment rollers and disposed in a plane at right angles to the plane of said first set of deflecting elements, and means for selectively moving said second support transversely of the direction of travel of said wire to urge a particular one of said second set of deflecting elements into engagement with said wire whereby a second predetermined reverse lateral straightening force at right angles to said first reverse lateral force is applied to said wire by the selected element of said second set of defleeting elementasaid device being thus adapted to correct any set curvature in the spooled wire feed thereby.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein at least one of each pair of abutment rollers is provided with a circumferential groove to accommodate said wire therein, the lands defining said groove being spaced from the pe- 6 riphery of said other roller of said pair by a distance less means for sliding said carriage transversely to move its than the thickness of said wire to prevent accidental disset of said deflecting elements into and out of selective lodgement of the wire from between said abutment rollers, engagement with said wire. and means mounting one of said abutment rollers of each Ref t j of said pairs for axial movement mto and out of coopera- 5 erences Q ed m the file of this patent tive relationship with said other roller of said pair Where- UNITED STATES PATENTS by the wire to be fed may be readily inserted between 379,735 Smith Mar. 20, 1888 said abutment rollers and wherein said deflecting ele- 542,005 Philopp July 2, 1895 ments comprise rotatable rollers and said deflecting ele- 1,751,094 Matteson Mar. 18, 1930 men: supports each include a slidable carriage and screw 10 1,851,677 Litchfield Mar. 29, 1932 

1. A WIRE STRAIGHTENING DEVICE COMPRISING A FIRST PAIR OF ABUTMENT ROLLERS ADAPTED TO ENGAGE WIRE FROM A SOURCE OF SUPPLY, A SECOND PAIR OF ABUTMENT ROLLERS COACTING WITH SAID FIRST PAIR AND SPACED THEREFROM IN THE DIRECTION OF TRAVEL OF SAID WIRE, A FIRST SET OF SPACED DEFLECTING ELEMENTS DISPOSED ON EACH SIDE OF THE PATH OF TRAVEL OF SAID WIRE, MEANS MOUNTING SAID DEFLECTING ELEMENTS ON A MOVABLE FIRST SUPPORT LOCATED BETWEEN SAID PAIRS OF ABUTMENT ROLLERS, AND MEANS FOR SELECTIVELY MOVING SAID FIRST SUPPORT TRANSVERSELY OF THE DIRECTION OF TRAVEL OF SAID WIRE TO URGE ONE OR THE OTHER OF SAID DEFLECTING ELEMENTS INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID WIRE WHEREBY A PREDETERMINED LATERAL STRAIGHTENING FORCE IN EITHER OF TWO REVERSE DIRECTIONS IS APPLIED TO SAID WIRE BY THE DEFLECTING ELEMENTS, A THIRD PAIR OF ABUTMENT ROLLERS COACTING WITH SAID FIRST AND SECOND PAIRS AND SPACED THEREFROM IN THE DIRECTION OF TRAVEL OF SAID WIRE, A FOURTH PAIR OF ABUTMENT ROLLERS COACTING WITH SAID THIRD PAIR AND SPACED THEREFROM IN THE DIRECTION OF TRAVEL OF SAID WIRE, SAID THIRD AND FOURTH PAIRS OF ABUTMENT ROLLERS DISPOSED IN A PLANE AT RIGHT ANGLES TO THE PLANE OF SAID FIRST AND SECOND PAIRS OF ABUTMENT ROLLERS, A SECOND SET OF SPACED DEFLECTING ELEMENTS DISPOSED ON EACH SIDE OF THE PATH OF TRAVEL OF SAID WIRE, MEANS MOUNTING SAID SECOND SET OF DEFLECTING ELEMENTS ON A SECOND MOV- 